December 13, 2004 HOME

Still finding every opportunity to avoid the joys of fiberglass, I decided I deserved a little break to work on the fuselage.  I started by making the spacer for the center fuselage elevator bellcrank.

 

After drilling, deburring and fitting, these are all the components.  It still needs to be drilled for the autopilot pitch servo, but I'll do that after it is installed in the fuselage so there won't be any issues about fit.

The bellcrank simply rotates around this little bearing that gets sandwiched and riveted between the 2 halves.

 

O. K., here we are, ready to rivet.  The width of the ends has been measured and the bearing turns freely.

 

After some scuffing and priming and riveting, the bellcrank assembly is complete and ready to install.

   

Free rotation of the bellcrank is good.  Side play of the assembly is bad.  To bushings are fabricated to properly space the bushing and limit the side play.  plans call out 11/16", I'm calling this, "Close enough."

The bellcrank installs with a single AN3 bolt, so I drilled the holes to mount it.  Drilling straight is a good idea, so careful measurements are in order, but the only way you can do it is by hand.

And, here it is.  Fabricated and installed.  I do still have to drill the bellcrank for the autopilot control arm, but later...

Having a few more minutes that could be devoted to fiberglass work, I quickly sprang upon the need to drill out some of the attach holes in the weldments for the flap actuator.  Oops!  Out of time.  Looks like no fiberglass work today!

 

 

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